Wii Menu 4.3 brings performance upgrades, removes homebrew

Over the last day or so, a message has gradually disseminated through North America's Wii systems, alerting users to a new Wii Menu update (we personally received it at around 1AM EST). Wii Menu 4.3 doesn't add any neat features to the user experience; rather, it seems focused entirely on taking features away from swarthy pirates and unlucky homebrewers.

"Because unauthorized channels or firmware may impair game play or the Wii console, updating to Wii Menu version 4.3 will check for and automatically remove such unauthorized files," Nintendo says on its support site, repeating a message found in every firmware update . "In addition, there are some behind the scenes enhancements that do not affect any prominently-used features or menus but will improve system performance."

Improved system performance is always a good thing, of course, but the text makes it sound like this is secondary to the main goal of taking another pass at everyone's Wiis to search for unauthorized software.